


Take Two

by BestHandwriting



Category: Aldnoah.Zero (Anime)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Reincarnation AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-15
Updated: 2016-05-15
Packaged: 2018-06-08 15:53:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6861682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BestHandwriting/pseuds/BestHandwriting
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the early morning, before Harklight even opens up his family’s bookstore’s, he entertains the first guest of the day: Slaine Troyard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Take Two

In the early morning, before Harklight even opens up his family’s bookstore’s, he entertains the first guest of the day. At 7:30 sharp, the bell above the door chimes in announcement of _his_ arrival. The snow-dusted boy in question stops just inside the doorway, shaking his head in a futile attempt to brush off the flakes. He takes care not to jostle the items in his hands in his efforts.

After all, Slaine Troyard knows how much Harklight would hate to have his breakfast end up wasted on the floor.

As Slaine reaches the counter, he offers a thin smile. The tip of his nose just peaks out from his fluffy white scarf, red from the cold. “Good morning, Harklight.”

“Good morning, Slaine.” Harklight takes the cup of coffee from Slaine’s hands first. It managed to keep its warmth throughout the trip through the frigid weather; if Harklight looks closely, he can glimpse steam still seeping out through the lid’s tiny opening. “You must be freezing.”

Slaine shakes his head, the scarf slipping down from his mouth. “Father wouldn’t let me leave the house without layering up. I’m quite toasty at the moment.”

True to his words, Slaine sheds his bulky winter coat to reveal a heavy sweater, surely hiding more layers underneath it. Harklight suppresses the shiver running up his spine. Just thinking about taking off his own winter coat, thin and worn from wear, makes Harklight cold. “Are you sure? I think we have a bit of tea left if you want it.”

“I’m sure.” Slaine takes a seat at the stool Harklight always sets there for him with a weary sigh. “Have you heard the weather reports lately? They say to expect blizzard conditions all day today.”

Harklight frowns down at the coffee, biting his cheek in concern. “You didn’t have to come all this way if the weather was going to be bad. I would hate for you to put yourself in danger just to see me.”

Slaine smiles a little wider. “It’s fine, Harklight. I wanted to come see you today.” He pushes the bag of food towards Harklight, his expression falling into a forceful stare. “First, you ought to eat. I went to that little bakery you liked this morning. It was all very fresh when I picked it up, so it might still be warm.”

Harklight sets down his coffee to sift through the bag’s contents. To his astonishment, Slaine even remembered his order- an almond-filled croissant and a chocolate éclair. “Thank you,” he mutters, as he does every morning. Usually, that is all he will say, but he adds on a little extra today in his gratitude. “It’s my favorite.”

Slaine doesn’t respond as Harklight starts eating. Instead, he just watches Harklight with a fond gaze until the urge to start up conversation strikes him again. “Did you hear Lemrina managed to take her first step yesterday?”

“I did.” Lemrina sent the video of it to Harklight, complete with those emojis she loved to use. Even now, he can’t help but smile at the thought of it. It was such a huge accomplishment for the bookstore’s second-most loyal customer and friend. “She told me she wouldn’t come here again until she could walk in on her own two feet.”

Slaine laughed, light and clear. “It’s nice to see her happy this time.”

“It is.” In another life, Lemrina had stayed hunched in her wheelchair, bearing the burdens of loving a man who could not love her back and loneliness. She rarely smiled, rarely seemed alive. But in this life, she lives vicariously in normality. Asseylum watches out for her as a sister ought to, and Slaine treats her not as a replacement but as a friend. Her new life has been gracious to her, just as it should be. “She deserves that more than any of us.”

Slaine nods, eyelids sliding shut. “You’ve changed too, Harklight.”

“I have?”

“You look me in the eye now.” When Slaine’s brilliant blue eyes open, they meet Harklight’s dark gaze. Harklight, much to his own amazement, doesn’t look away like he used to. Instead, he holds it without a trace of discomfort. “I like you better this way.”

Harklight does turn away at that, warmth flooding to his cheeks. “Thank you, Slaine.” He doesn’t even hesitate with Slaine’s name anymore. Without him even realizing it, Milord Slaine and Mr. Harklight have both been lost to the past.

Harklight might have said more, but at the moment, he looks up at the clock. It’s almost 8 now. Once again, his time to spend chatting with Slaine has passed by in the blink of an eye. He polishes off the last of his breakfast in silence, ruing the hour for ruining yet another heartfelt conversation.

When he stands up, Slaine does the same. But to Harklight’s surprise, as he starts sorting through the new shipments of books delivered last night and shelving them, Slaine lingers right behind him instead of picking up his things and leaving. “Don’t you have to go to class, Slaine?”

Slaine shakes his head. “They canceled for weather. It’s snowing so hard, it’s tough to see anything out there.”

Sure enough, when Harklight glances out the window, he can barely make out the street through the sheets of snowflakes.

“Anyways, I hope you don’t mind if I stay here for the day. It doesn’t look like things will clear up for a while.”

Harklight stops mid-shelving, stunned. “You trudged through such horrible weather to spend the whole day with me?”

This time, it’s Slaine’s turn to look away, luminescent blush dusting his pale cheeks. “Yeah. And… there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you too.”

Harklight stops his work completely. “What is it?” This whole situation reads like a love confession, but Harklight forces his fluttering heart to still at the thought. Slaine loved Asseylum wholeheartedly in his first life. It would be foolish to presume Slaine held any sort of romantic affection for him now.

“I haven’t been completely honest with you, Harklight.” Harklight’s heart sinks as Slaine confirms his doubts. He should have known better to entertain such wishful thinking; of course this is how it would end. “I… I loved Asseylum at first, yes, but in my first life, after you… after you left it, I realized I had come to love someone else instead.”

“Lemrina?” He won’t let himself ask about the name he was thinking. He can’t let himself be disappointed.

Slaine’s lips quirk into a grin as he shakes his head. “She’s a close friend, nothing more. I came to love you, Harklight.”

Any words Harklight might have said vanish. He can hardly believe his ears are functioning properly or that this isn’t some fantasy concocted by his mind. But somehow, in some way, this is his reality. Slaine just said he loves Harklight. Slaine loves _him_.

“I love you even more in this life. You’re kind and loyal to a fault, and you always humor me when I bother you so early. Even when I come in when you’re working, you always find the time to stop what you’re doing and recommend me books.”

Harklight finally finds enough coherency to say, “I always have time to talk with you.”

Slaine takes a step forward so they’re almost touching, gazing up at Harklight with an earnest look in his eyes. “So, I was wondering if you’d like to talk with me sometime we’re both free. A date, so to speak, if you would be okay with that.”

A date.

Has Harklight’s second life just been the afterlife? It seems the only plausible explanation for how Slaine Troyard could possibly requite his love, and yet, everything proves this moment reality. There is no eternal air of perfection. Like his first life, there are trying moments and there are peaceful ones.

In this life, though, there are significantly more of the latter.

And before he knows it, Harklight finally responds, “It would be my greatest honor to go on a date with you, Slaine.”

Slaine’s grin widens, his whole face lit with delight. In a moment of pure instinct, Harklight bends down to close the distance between them.

It is the best decision Harklight could have made.

His eyes slip shut naturally as their lips touch. Slaine’s lips are as soft as they look, perfect against his own. Harklight could have kissed Slaine for a lifetime, lost himself in the warmth and made this moment last, but he forces himself to pull away far too soon.

There are still things to be done, books to shelve and the like, before the 9 o’clock opening time.

But before he can get back to work, Slaine looks up at him, face flushed and eyes bright as he leans against the opposite bookshelf, and asks, “So, do you have any good book recommendations today?”

Harklight reaches over Slaine’s shoulder and pulls out the first book he sees. “I think you’ll like this one.”

As Slaine takes the book, Harklight catches sight of the title. He can’t stop a smile from coming to his lips at the coincidence. When Slaine finally reads it, he does the same. “I didn’t realize I had to be versed in 5 love languages to date you.”

“Neither did I.”

They both break into fits of laughter, Slaine gripping his copy of _The Five Love Languages_ while Harklight rests his arms behind his back like old times. Already, this is better than he could have imagined.

And when Harklight finally gets back to work, Slaine perches once again on his stool, engrossed in the book. On occasion, he breaks the comfortable silence to read a particularly interesting line and they take a moment to laugh again.

It’s nothing like their relationship could have been the first time, entwined in ranks and lies. But in the end, Harklight couldn’t have asked for any better alternative.

Slaine loves him, just him. There are no lingering affections or concerns with rankings, just quiet moments like these and many more of them to come.

All is calm.

All is well.

At last, their world is at peace.

**Author's Note:**

> Let's be real; we all needed a little happy hasure in our lives.
> 
> As an outtake of sorts (as I couldn't fit these headcanons in to the part where Harklight mentioned Lemrina used a lot of emojis), I imagine Harklight just doesn't understand emojis and doesn't use them. He just types with proper grammar and everything, which Slaine finds rather endearing (Slaine uses emojis a bit, but not to the extent of Lemrina).


End file.
